


Dance the Night Away

by tekhartha



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Dancing, Fluff, Gender-neutral Reader, Halloween, Other, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 14:10:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21120080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tekhartha/pseuds/tekhartha
Summary: The Overwatch Halloween party is pretty fun, but after a few hours you're looking to get some fresh air. Surprisingly, you bump into a certain omnic monk who's stretching his legs outside.





	Dance the Night Away

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, friends!   
I'm back on my Zen bs, so I wrote a little story inspired by his new Stretch emote.   
Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoy!!

Someone had decided that the Overwatch agents simply  _ needed  _ to celebrate Halloween. Not only was the whole base decorated with fake cobwebs, pumpkins, and plastic skeletons, but there was also a horror movie night at least twice a week. And as if that wasn’t enough, Lena had also worked hard on organizing a Halloween party on the 31st. 

Honestly, you didn’t mind, since you liked the holiday well enough but you couldn’t help but roll your eyes every time you passed one of the cheap decorations in the hallway. More than once had you managed to get trapped in a cobweb, and you had long lost count of the amount of times you had accidentally stumbled over a badly placed plastic pumpkin. Frankly, it was getting ridiculous.

You were glad when the 31st finally rolled around and all of this was about to be over and done with. Having only just returned from a mission the previous night, you were still a little dizzy when you rolled out of bed at 11 AM. The face that stared back at you in the mirror was already kind of frightening as it was, you briefly debated if you would even need a costume for the party. The thought of just showing up in your PJs, looking tired as hell made you snort. Unfortunately, you knew Lena and Hana would be upset with you if you did that, so you got back to washing your face and putting on some comfortable clothes. 

Your schedule for today was clear apart from the party at 7 PM, so you still had a few hours to do whatever you wanted. Although the growling of your stomach didn’t leave much room for interpretation when it came to your immediate needs. 

With a little sigh you grabbed your holo-pad and stuffed it into your pocket, before heading out, making your way towards the common room. You sincerely hoped someone else kept some leftovers in the fridge which you could devour, since you really didn’t feel like cooking yourself.

When you got there, you were surprised to find the door closed with a haphazardly scrawled sign taped to it.

_ KEEP OUT!!!! Halloween party decorating in progress!! >:) _

You groaned loudly, stomping your foot on the ground in annoyance. Why were they already working on this now? More than six hours before the start of the party? Well, your expectations for the decorations were certainly high now, hopefully this was worth it.

When your stomach gave another growl, you reluctantly turned on your heel to look for food elsewhere. You were pretty sure Reinhardt always had some leftovers in his personal fridge, or maybe you could raid Hana’s room for snacks… it would only be fair, right?

However, before you could make up your mind, you crossed paths with Captain Amari in the hall and she gave you a knowing look.

“You’re in search of food, aren’t you, agent?” She asked and when you nodded, she chuckled. “I made sure to move the contents of the fridge of the community kitchen to the fridge by the medbay. Just ask Angela, she knows where it is.”

“Thank you, captain!” You grinned and she waved you off with a smile of her own.

Just as the captain had said, Dr. Ziegler had been able to point you in the direction of the fridge with a knowing chuckle. You had never been in the break room of the medbay, but it was surprisingly comfortable and cozy thanks to its small size. Without thinking about it for too long, you grabbed some chili out of the fridge as soon as Dr. Ziegler had left. Half-way through your meal McCree and Genji stumbled into the room, the former complaining that you had just polished off his food. You simply shrugged apologetically as Genji laughed.

“Sorry, Jesse!” You told him as you stood up to deposit the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Anyway, are you guys excited for the party?”

“I guess… I’m just glad I don’t have to bother with a costume.” Genji told you and you snorted. Jesse was about to reply, but you cut him off when you realized he was most definitely going to talk your ear off about his costume.

“Well, I’ll see you guys later. Bye!” 

With a little wave, you hastily stepped out of the room and made your way back to your quarters.

After spending the rest of the afternoon doing some light exercise and lazily scrolling through social media, you finally decided that it was about time to put on your costume at 6:30 PM. 

You had been dragged to a costume store a few weeks ago, where you had been stuck into several different outfits, until you had found a nice vampire costume. It might've been a little boring, but it suited you well and you loved the way the cape wafted behind you when you walked. Besides, you didn't really want to go as some obscure pop culture character that no one knew, so a classic Halloween costume seemed like the way to go. As an extra touch, you put on some dramatic makeup around your eyes, that made you look like a proper bloodthirsty vampire. 

When you were finished and ready to go, you threw a last look into the mirror and grinned, glued on pointy fangs poking your lip slightly uncomfortably. You'd probably have to take them off if you didn't want a bloody lip, but for now you liked the look of them enough to keep them on. A glance at the clock told you that it was a few minutes to seven, so you threw on your cape and started to make your way over to the common room. 

You already heard the thumping bass of the music from afar and as you got closer, you recognized the song as Spooky Scary Skeletons. You couldn't help but grin at the sound of the familiar tune, and you found yourself hurrying to get there more quickly. 

The decor of the room was - unsurprisingly - amazing and so completely over the top, that it was great again. The walls were covered with black sheets and everything was only sparsely illuminated. A large cauldron stood in a corner, the dry ice inside it making thick smoke cover the ground around it. Some carved pumpkins had been scattered around the place and the buffet on one end of the room was laden with all kinds of spooky treats. Your stomach gave a growl at the sight, but you ignored it for now, in favor of making your way over to the group of people by the kitchen. 

"Hey, guyth." You grimaced at your shoddy pronunciation thanks to your fangs, but everyone simply chuckled. 

"Heya, Dracula!" Hana laughed. 

She was wearing an adorable red riding hood costume that looked to be way too professionally made for this casual party. She even carried a basket with an empty bottle of wine and some bread. 

"I'm glad you made it! We're still a few people short, but if they don't show up, we can always go to them and force them to party with us!" She laughed almost maniacally. 

"Yeah, exactly. Tonight everyone's having fun!" Lúcio agreed. 

"Did I hear something about fun?" A voice behind you chimed in, and you turned around to find Blackwatch's commander Reyes approaching your group. He was holding a bottle of coke in one hand and a bottle of rum in the other. You hadn't taken the commander for someone who would dress up for an occasion like this, but he wore quite a striking black and orange suit and carried a carved pumpkin under his left arm, that seems to act as a helmet. 

He brushed past you to deposit the bottles on the kitchen island, then took the pumpkin in both of his hands. 

"Because I'm ready to get my spook on." He finished, before the placed the pumpkin on his head. 

Everyone coo-ed and ahh-ed at the sight of his meticulous costume, and you chuckled before turning away to check out what everyone else was wearing. Captain Amari gave you a little wave when you caught her eye from across the room and you smiled at her very elaborate mummy costume. She was sitting on the couch, talking to her daughter, who was dressed up as a knight. The outfit looked quite uncomfortable, but very shiny and appropriate for the occasion. Your eyes wandered over the rest of the crowd and you spotted the glint of Genji's silver body by the buffet. Next to him Zenyatta was floating as he usually did. His body was painted darker with a few white stripes painted on which were obviously supposed to look like bones. Even his faceplate had a slightly goofy looking skull painted on it. You chuckled at the sight, the sound catching Lena's attention, who had just blinked next to you. 

"Hey, love. Whatcha looking at?" She leaned in and tried to follow your line of sight. 

At the sound of her voice so close to you ear all of a sudden, you jumped slightly, clutching your chest. 

"Jeez, Lena. Can you not?! I almost had a heart attack…" You took a deep breath to try and calm down your thundering heartbeat. "I'm just admiring everyone's costumes. I gotta say, Zenyatta got pretty creative."

"He did, didn't he?! I hadn't really expected him to show up, if I'm being honest." Lena's expression turned thoughtful and now that you got a good look at her, you noticed her outfit. She caught you seizing her up, and took a step back to strike a pose. 

"Pretty nifty, right? Emily came up with the idea of the Will-o'-wisp!" She grinned, but she got kind of a faraway look in her eyes. You reached out to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

"Did you get a picture of the costume to send to her yet?" You asked and when she shook her head, you pulled out your holo-pad. "Let's remedy that, then!"

The next few hours passed in a blur as you mingled, danced, and ate your way up and down the buffet. At one point you had even found yourself getting spun around on the dance floor by Reinhardt, before captain Amari stepped in to take your place. When it was around 11 PM, you decided to take a breather and get some fresh air. 

Before you stepped outside, you quickly went to the bathroom to relieve yourself and check your reflection. You had long since abandoned the vampire fangs, since they were getting in the way, and your hair was a mess, but you almost looked like you were glowing. You shrugged to yourself, ran a hand through your hair to tame it a little, then stepped out of the bathroom. 

The door that led outside wasn't far and as soon as you pushed it open and the cool, fresh air hit your face, you took a deep breath. You could still hear the music from inside, but it was much more muffled. You took a few steps outside onto the sparse grass and looked around, only to startle when you noticed Zenyatta leaning against the wall. 

"Ah, it seems like you've caught me." He told you with a chuckle. 

It was a rare sight so see him standing on two legs instead of floating around like he usually did. Occasionally when you were out on missions undercover, he would walk, but he seemed to prefer floating when it was up to him. In any case, it was always a little strange to see him like this, and it didn't help that he was surprisingly tall standing up. 

You stepped closer and leaned against the wall next to him. 

"Stretching your legs?" You asked with a teasing smile, making him hum in confirmation. 

"Omnics are built to walk, unfortunately." He turned to you and tilted his head. "And watching you tonight, one might think humans are built to dance."

Even as you felt the heat rushing to your face, you laughed. 

"It's been a while since I've had this much fun. Honestly, I wasn't too excited for the party, but now I think it was actually a good idea." 

You averted your gaze and kicked away some pebbles with your foot. A silence fell over the two of you as you simply enjoyed the quiet night and fresh air. After a while the distant thumping of the bass gave way to a more upbeat pop song and you found yourself humming along, tapping your foot with the beat.

“You still seem to have a surprising amount of energy left.” Zenyatta said, before he pushed off the wall to stand in front of you, hand outstretched. “Would you like to dance?” 

It took your brain a few seconds to catch up, and when it did, you smiled as you gently took his hand. The metal was cool to the touch, but not unpleasantly so, and you found the weight of his other hand on your waist quite comfortable. 

Zenyatta led you a few steps away from the wall and started rocking back and forth to the rhythm of the music.

"You know, it was fun to dance with Rein earlier, but I can already tell that I definitely prefer  _ you _ as a dance partner." You told him as you two began to slowly spin around. 

Zen chuckled lightly, squeezing your hand. 

"Thank you. I unfortunately can't match Reinhardt's enthusiasm, but I suppose this late in the evening that's probably a good thing." He let go of your waist and raised your joined hands above your head, so you could twirl around, before he pulled you close again. 

Were you imagining things, or had his grip just gotten a little tighter?

"I quite like your cape." He told you and you assumed he had noticed it while you twirled. 

"Thanks, so do I! I kinda wanna keep it on forever." 

The thought of wearing it out on a mission made you laugh for a moment, while Zen seemed to watch you with interest. You simply shook your head with a smile before pointing at his chest plate. 

"I like your skeleton getup too, it's cute!" 

"Oh, you flatter me." He briefly tilted his head downwards, as if he was shyly avoiding your gaze. "It was Genji's idea… I originally didn't plan on dressing up, but he convinced me. I'm glad that he did, because otherwise I most likely would've felt under-dressed."

You nodded in understanding. It seemed like both of you had expected Halloween to be much less fun than it had turned out to be. And you had to admit that you  _ definitely _ hadn't expected to end up dancing outside with the omnic monk tonight, yet this was probably the highlight of your night. A blush crept into your cheeks at the thought and you sincerely hoped Zen wouldn't notice it in the dark. 

"Can I ask you something?" You spoke up after a few minutes of dancing quietly. 

"Of course, anything."

"Why do you float instead of walking?" 

Zenyatta was quiet for a moment, and just when you were starting to think that you had managed to offend him, he chuckled. 

"The answer is much simpler than you might expect: Because it's more fun." He spun the two of you around a little more quickly for a second, making you laugh. 

"That's it?" 

"Do I need any other reason? I'm almost sure if  _ you _ had the choice between walking and floating, you would also choose to float. Am I incorrect?" His tone was teasing, and you felt your heart swell at how relaxed he seemed to be. 

"No, yeah, absolutely. Walking is kinda boring to be honest." 

You bit your lip as you thought it over for a moment. All this time you thought that he floated around because of some spiritual reason, something about the Shambali maybe. To learn that Tekhartha Zenyatta made his choices based on fun, actually made you grin at him. When he tilted his head in question, you chuckled. 

"It's just unexpected… it's kinda nice to know that even someone like you makes decisions based on what's more enjoyable." You told him and he hummed in agreement. 

"I'm not sure how this is unexpected, considering I'm currently dancing with you purely for fun."

"Okay, fair." You rolled your eyes playfully, making him laugh. 

For a few minutes you danced in silence, apart from the occasional chuckle in reaction to stepping on each other's feet. When a slow song came on you both kind of paused for a second, before Zen wrapped both of his arms around your waist and pulled your closer. You followed his example and rested your hands on his shoulders. 

"This is just like every cheesy rom-com I've ever seen." You commented, but didn't make a move to pull away. 

"I'm afraid I don't follow. I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to pop culture." 

You thought it over for a moment, thinking of a way to explain it that didn't sound extremely strange and made things uncomfortable between the two of you. 

"Hmm, well, it's a popular trope. A lot of movies have this kind of scene, where two people who like each other start dancing to a fun upbeat song, but then the song changes and they have to slow dance. And it's suddenly super intimate because they're so close, and it's supposed to be really romantic, or whatever." You gestured slightly while talking, avoiding looking at Zen.

"Hm, I see." He saw him tilt his head to the side in the corner of your eye. "So, would you say that this situation is romantic?" 

If Zen's grip on you hadn't been so tight, you were sure you would've frozen and stopped dead in your tracks, but he just continued to gently push you along as he danced. You did however end up stepping on his foot twice while you tried to ignore how hot you suddenly felt and how hard your heart was thundering in your chest. When you finally found your voice, it sounded weak and unsure to your own ears. 

"Uhm, w-well…" You started, unable to clear your racing thoughts. "I-I, uh, don't know. It's certainly, uhm, well, it's…"

A soft sound from Zen interrupted you and when you looked up at him in surprise, cheeks burning, you found his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. He noticed you looking at him and broke into a joyous laugh. 

"Oh my, I'm so sorry." He said between fits of laughter, that had you staring in shock. "I didn't mean to put you on the spot, but your facial expression was quite amusing."

"Oh." You mumbled finally, lowering your head in an attempt to hide the furious blush on your cheeks. The gesture made Zen halt. 

"I believe I've made you uncomfortable, I apologize." He said and you felt that he was about to step back from you, so you quickly tightened your grip on his shoulders and shook your head. 

"No, it's fine! You just surprised me, that's all."

You gently nudged him to keep dancing and he picked up on your cue, immediately starting to sway along with the music once again. 

"If you're sure." He mumbled and you nodded in reply. 

Suddenly the sound of the door opening made the two of you whip around towards the source of the noise. McCree was standing in the doorway, unlit cigar in his mouth, and eyes jumping between the two of you. He reached up and plucked the cigar from his lips, before he put on a confident smile. 

"I'm sorry for disturbin' ya. I didn't think anyone was out here… I'll leave ya be." 

Before either of you could assure him that it was fine, he vanished inside again. The door fell shut after him with a loud bang, making you shake your head. 

"We should head back inside as well, it's getting too cold out here for you." Zen said after a moment and you reluctantly let go of him. Now that you didn't feel the warmth of his chassis against your chest, you realized that he was right. It was indeed pretty cold by now and you shivered as you pulled your cape tightly around your shoulders. Zen got back into a floating position with one smooth motion, making you grin. When he caught your gaze he chuckled. 

"You know, I think the answer is 'yes'." You said as he held the door open for you. "I would say that dancing with you was romantic."

He laughed at that and when you felt his hand brush the small of your back as you passed him, your heart did a little twirl in your chest. 

"Interesting. I'm curious if you'd be willing to do some other romantic activities with me…?" He asked almost hesitantly. 

Your cheeks were beginning to hurt from how much you were grinning when you told him, "Yeah, I'd like that."

As soon as you stepped into the common room, you regretted having come back here. Both Lena and Hana were grinning at Zen and you, and when you caught sight of Jesse whispering something into Genji's ear, you immediately knew what was up. 

"Oh no, Jesse is spreading gossip." You mumbled in Zen's direction. 

"How unfortunate. We can only hope that he's not exaggerating too much." He said, making you nod in agreement. 

Although if you knew Jesse at all, he was probably telling everyone that he had caught the two of you in the middle of a hot make out session. You rolled your eyes and ignored the heat that rushed into your face at the mental image. 

Zen must've noticed your slightly stressed out expression, because he placed a comforting hand on the small of your back, which definitely didn't help your case. 

"Would you like me to walk you back to your room?" He asked gently and you snorted. 

"Now that will  _ really _ get them talking. Let's do it."

Zen chuckled and the two of you turned around to leave the crowded room once again. As soon as the door closed behind you, you heard Jesse's muffled voice yell something that sounded suspiciously like 'I told you so!'. The sound elicited a laugh from you. 

You turned back to Zen, who was surprisingly standing on his feet once again. You gave him a questioning look. 

"I did tell you I would  _ walk _ you back to your room, did I not?" He supplied and you laughed even harder this time. 

"You're such a dork."

"I hope that's a compliment?" Zen asked in an amused tone of voice. As he spoke, he offered you his hand to hold and you took it without hesitation, lacing your fingers with his cool metal ones. 

"Of course it is." 


End file.
